Victory: Anti-Transgender Student Bill Dies in Wisconsin Legislature

February 19, 2016 • 8:35 pm

MADISON – Wisconsin lawmakers quietly adjourned the legislative session yesterday without moving forward on a bill that would have banned transgender children from using facilities at school that match the gender they live everyday.

Matt McTighe, executive director of Freedom for All Americans, released the following statement:

“Wisconsin lawmakers did the right thing by not moving forward on a bill that would have increased the tremendous harassment and threat of harm that transgender children face in their everyday lives. No state in the nation has ever passed a bill that singles out transgender students and prohibits them from using the correct facilities. Transgender children, like all children, should be focused on their education while at school. As similar bills percolate in other parts of the country, Wisconsin is sending an important message that anti-transgender bills are invasive, discriminatory, and wrong.”

Freedom for All Americans provided communications support, digital strategy, and legislative guidance to Fair Wisconsin, generating hundreds of contacts to lawmakers in opposition to the bill.

Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to pass nondiscrimination protections for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, but lacks the same protections for transgender people. A poll released yesterday shows that 73 percent of Wisconsin residents support nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people.

Freedom for All Americans is the bipartisan campaign to secure full nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people nationwide. Our work brings together Republicans and Democrats, businesses large and small, people of faith, and allies from all walks of life to make the case for comprehensive nondiscrimination protections that ensure everyone is treated fairly and equally.